BoloOfEarth

Watched Stardust last night.  Fun movie, but how to describe it?  A young man (Tristan) crosses a wall into a magical realm to bring a fallen star (which happens to be a woman) back to a woman he thinks he loves, but discovers his actual true love along the way.  Also seeking the fallen star are witches and princes (who are rivals for the thrown after their father dies).  Along the way Tristan encounters sky pirates harvesting lightning, plus the aforementioned witches and princes.  Great performance by Robert DiNiro as Captain Shakespear (arr!), though in my daughter's opinion the best character is the captain's first mate, who does more with his facial expressions and a cleared throat than most actors do with spoken lines. 

pfft. clip art!

Speaking of heroes' relating to the authorities, here's the Campaign Chronicle I mentioned of when the players and characters both mucked up and I, the GM, scrambled to keep up with them. At this time my frined Jeff wrote the chronicle.
 
A word of explanation: This was 4th edition, with characters originally written on 250 points. To fit in all the Powers people wanted for their super-mages, most characters had ctivation Rolls and hefty Side Effects. That doesn't explain all the events that turned the scenario into a train wreck... In this, the police are not happy to see the PCs, but I'm sure you'll agree they had reason.
 
(Warning: This is blow by blow, so very long. I won't be offended if no one reads it.)
------------
LIEBESTOD
 
Yes, it's campaign update time again. As you will see when you read on, we do it to ourselves again -- and I though our *last* adventure was a comedy of errors! Since then, things have been quiet for a bit since our little hoo-doo in Montana last time, so we are catching up with our lives...
 
Ian Malcolm has blown himself out of existance again (or at least to another plane), but we are confident he will eventually reappear. Actually, Corey just couldn't make it at the last second, so we expect Ian to reappear start of next adventure.
 
Victor has been thinking about the bilocational house we mentioned we live in. It has occured to him that many exotic spell components he needs are readily available in Babylon and at a good price given the exchange rate. He decides he will need to head over to our place and shmooze a bit, in hopes of being allowed over to Babylon to do some quick shopping.
 
Redeemer has been trying to do research on the Cult of the Doomsday Clock and how to find and return Father O’Herlihey's soul. He is also continuing his research on trying to overcome his inability to father an heir to be the next Champion of Light. This is unlikely to prove fruitful, as he is operating on a false assumption: that he is alive and thus capable of fathering children. His research on both fronts is hampered by his inability to readily locate the Library of Babylon, which he can only reach about 1 in 3 times he tries. He will do better at navigating Babylon's shifting streets when he buys up his Area Knowledge.
 
Jezeray has been continuing her research on lycanthropy hoping to find a cure for Andrew's condition, as well as running her little fortune-telling business. She has also been trying to talk Andrew into moving into Wetchley House with her. He hasn't yet agreed to, but is starting to lean that way.
 
The adventure proper opens with Jezeray sleeping over at Andrew's house. She is having a dream about being sucked into a bottle, when she is awakened by Andrew's thrashing. He is also having a nightmare and is talking in his sleep. His aura is flickering between himself and Black Fang, and he is speaking alternatingly in both voices. Black Fang is taunting Andrew, claiming he can satisfy Jezeray better than Andrew can. Andrew is denying it, but in that panicked way that suggests he really believes it. After he wakes up, they just snuggle up togther until they fall asleep again. In the morning she heads back to Wetchley House.
 
Victor comes over later that morning and Jezeray shows him around the house (he especially likes the Garden Floor, where he harvests several semi-rare herbs he can use in his alchemy). She then takes him out on a guided tour of Babylon. He shops for spell components on the way and gathers some dirt from Babylon so he can make his own EDM teleport potions to get here on his own in the future. They also swing by the Library of Babylon.
 
When they get back, they find Redeemer watching a news broadcast on TV. There is a hostage situation not far away in Tacoma's Hilltop area. It seems that Francine Jarovich (and her daughter Amber) is being held hostage by her shotgun toting husband, who has already shot the mailman, and is about ready to kill his "cheatin' wife". Although there is nothing magical about this, Redeemer decides he is going to get involved anyway, and we decide we had better follow.
 
We fly in invisibly, thanks to Redeemer. Just in case, Victor uses a lotion to make his skin malleable, and sculpts himself a temporary new face -- his current body is also hunted by the police. Jezeray is pleased when Redeemer suggests he sees no need for Zontar and that she should stay herself. The house is surrounded by cops who are trying to negotiate with the husand, who is in an upstairs bedroom with the hostages. Hovering outside the broken window, we decide that Victor will cast a Matter Barrier around the wife and daughter while Redeemer simultaneously gives the husband a Mental Illusion of getting shot in the face with a shotgun (poetic justice). It works, sort of... Redeemer's Illusion is real enough to knock the husband out before he can fire, but Victor blows his roll and we end up in a side effect entagle, and plunge out of the sky. The SWAT team runs up and starts beating on us. Luckily, the entangle protects us and we are still invisible. Redeemer teleports us out of the entangle back into the air.
 
Just before we fly off, Jezeray notices that the house is permeated by a malevolent evil aura. We stop to investigate. Redeemer can detect no magic at work in the house, but does notice that one of the cops is viciously beating on the unconsious husband with his truncheon. Redeemer scans him and determines he is being mentally influenced somehow. Other cops pull "officer Smith" off before we have to intervene. We fly to the side and land. Victor blusters his way into the crowd of cops as the man is being wheeled out on a stretcher, claiming to be a doctor. In his white lab coat and safety glasses, he does somewhat look the part, and the cops and paramedics buy it long enough for Victor to do some magical healing. The blue glow around the victim sets them off however, and Victor is pulled away.
Redeemer then walks up in full bishop's regalia -- and the cops all groan. *Him* they recognize. He is firmly told to bugger off, their paranormal interference is not appreciated with the Tacoma Police. He and Victor leave, cloak themselves, and join Jezeray, who has been hanging near the house in her "unnoticeable" state, checking out the aura in more detail. She determines that the house itself seems to be somehow possessed.
 
Back home, Artifex finally pops into Wetchley House to check on us. He is back from the War of Infinity (both sides have declared themselves the winner and fighting has ceased). He finds the house empty except for a terrified dog whose collar identifies him as "Sam". After scanning to make sure it is not a transformed Andrew, he leaves it alone, though Sam snaps at him (like Redeemer, he is disliked by animals, in his case because his Art nature conflicts with their Nature nature - if that makes sense). Terence tells Artifex where we are and what we are up to, so he cloaks himself and comes to join us.
 
Once he arrives he fills us in about the War being over etc., etc. We are amused at his new costume; having gotten over his somber phase, he is now in something resembling an iridesent toga. Getting down to busIness, he and Jezeray both retrocog. the house in their own respective fashions.
 
Jezeray blows her rolls and briefly believes that this is the work of Mephistopheles, but soons figures out that she is wrong. Artifex's retrocognition takes the form of talking to the house. It is a nice if somewhat complaint-prone structure. It certainly does not seem evil itself. It mentions a new resident who moved in three days ago. Under further questioning, it admits the new person isn't flesh and blood. The house also is not certain exactly where the new person is, except somewhere inside.
 
Victor uses his "Reagent Kit" (a magic detect that gets more detailed the more extra time is used, based on alchemical experimentation). After 5 minutes he has determines that the house was occupied 3 days ago by an astral being -- some sort of atavism, and that it gets stronger the more harm it causes. We speculate that if they get stronger by causing pain, then joy and happiness may make them weaker.
Redeemer decides we need to learn more by confronting the creature and decides to enter the house. He decides to set up a poor-man's Mind Link with Jezeray (i.e. Mental Illusions on Jezeray of her hearing in her head whatever Redeemer wants to say to her), so we will be able to track his progress in the house. Victor gives him a potion and tells him to drink it in an emergency, but does not tell him what it is. Artifex decides to go in with Redeemer while Jezeray and Victor remain outside. Incidentally, while we've been invisible, the police have finished all their work at the house for now and have cordoned it off with that yellow "police line -- do not cross" tape. It is now late in the evening.
 
Redeemer and Artifex enter the house. Once they leave the front of the house and the windows that look out on Jezeray and Victor, Line-of-sight for the Mental Illusion is broken (something we didn't think of). Redeemer decides to press on anyway, not realizing that Jezeray does not know. You see, mental powers continue to affect the victim even after being shut down, at least until an EGO roll is made. Hence Jezeray continues to hear a repetion of Redeemer's last thought - "I'm in the living room now, everything is still o.k.".
 
Redeemer and Artifex get to the center of the house, and Redeemer issues a challange to the atavism of the "come and get me" variety. Without waiting for an attack he then chugs the potion Victor gave him, still not knowing what it is! Oh, and what was it, you ask? Well, remember when we speculated that happy emotions would weaken the thing? Yes, in an effort to help that effect, Victor has given Redeemer a Love Potion!!! About the same time Artifex tries to create a merriment-based PRE attack by launching into an impromptue song-and-dance rendition of "Come on get Happy!".
 
Hearing the commotion, Jezeray and Victor rush into the house and start laughing at Artifex. As soon as Redeemer sees Jezeray, however, he falls madly in love with her! He realizes that between his magic and her psychic powers, their child would be the most powerful Champion of Light ever! He instant changes into "continental" garb and starts putting the make on Jezeray. Artifex and Victor whisper to her not to reject him, his pain would then feed the atavism. In fact, with her Mental Awareness, she just then spots a mental effect aimed at Redeemer. She decides that if the atavism is in contact with him, she needs to encourage his love as much as possible. She grits her teeth and throws herself into Redeemer's arms, professing her love for him. Just to add insult to injury, Artifex has produced a camcorder and is filming the whole scene for posterity (and possibly blackmail).
 
The atavism's suggestions to Redeemer are subtle and work at twisting his love into a demented sort of obsession. He teleports her and him into the bedroom and then begins drainign her life force, to make her more like him (even though he doesn't admit he is dead). She is unable to break his undead-strength grab.
 
Artifex and Victor track them down. Victor sees an empty bedroom but Artifex see's through the "nobody here" illusion Redeemer has cast and tells Victor what Redeemer is doing to Jezeray. Redeemer adds the Choking Tentacles to the Life Drain he is using and Jezeray passes out. Artifex cast an illusion on Jezeray of being a decaying corpse, but the illusion also includes (vs. Detect Magic) that the spell is transformative magic rather than an Image spell. Redeemer see's through the visual part of the illusion but not the type-of-magic part and so believes that Artifex has just tried to transform Jezeray into a decaying corpse.
 
Victor meanwhile finally manages to see through the "nobody here" illusion, but doesn't see through Artifex's illusion on Jezeray - so he sees a decayign corpse and thinks Redeemer has killed Jezeray by sucking all her life out!! Victor cast a hyper-gravity pocket on Jezeray hoping to make Redeemer drop her. When Artifex adds a downward TK pull to it, he does - in fact, she goes right through the floor and partially into the crawlspace below, taking enough damage to ensure she won't wake up soon. The illusion of her being a corpse is dropped now so Victor see's she is really alive and casts a Matter Barrier over her for protection.
 
About now, Redeemer makes an EGO roll to break the atavisms effect on him, but he is still in love with Jezeray and hence is horrified by what he has tried to do to her. The atavism takes a new tack, trying to suggest "Yes, you've hurt her horribly, you don't deserve to live, why don't you just end it all". Redeemer however decides he must have vengeance on Artifex for trying to transform Jezeray into a corpse, but then decides she is still in danger from him and must be saved first. As Redeemer grabs Jezeray the bedsheets suddenly fly off the bed and entangle Artifex (this is the atavism's poltergeist abilities at work). Redeemer tries to teleport him and her out of the house, but the Matter Barrier around Jezeray is hardened, so she is left behind much to Redeemer's surprise. Victor drops the Matter Barrier around Jezeray and feeds her a Healing Potion. It isn't enough to wake her up, but she will recover soon.
 
Redeemer blasts through the bedroom window, move-by grabs Jezeray and begins flying down the hallway toward the front door with her at high speed. Artifex is still tangled up, so Victor casts an Expand Matter at Jezeray (Growth with no mass increase). Sudden;y she is much bigger then the hallway - she and it take considerable damage as they grind to a stop. Redeemer, who somehow kept his grip on her, teleports them outside. Victor and Artifex follow. Having seen Victor heal Jezeray, redeemer decides he is maybe not one of the bad guys and asks him to do it again (she is pretty badly hurt at this point). Victor gives her one Healing Potion, enough that she will recover in awhile. Before Redeemer can resume hostilities with Artifex, Terence suddenly thinks to use a PRE attack via the Mind Link to inform Redeemer he is dead, and make him believe it. As usual, he promptly collapses into a pile of bones from which state he will not recover until he restores his disbelief in his death.
 
We take the opportunity to cure him of the effect of the Love Potion. Also, Jezeray is shrunk back to normal and further healed. Based on what we have seen, Terence recognizes the atavism as a House Haunter: once they possess a house they can affect the material world in certain ways (like making mental suggestions and poltergiest effects), but only within the confines of the house they have occupied. One other problem is that attacking it is not easy -- it is nearly undetectable except by Mental Awarness when it attacks (and even that is only a non-targeting PER roll!) and its location is literally wherever its attention is at any given second, so it moves instantly. Moreover, if we hurt it too much it will just abandon the house and haunt somewhere else later. Once out of the house, it will be purely astral and we will have no good way to fight it.
 
After mush discussion we come up with a plan. Artifex will spell-hack Redeemer's Wall of Solid Darkness into a Wall of Mental Defense, which we will trap the creature within so it cannot flee the battle. Redeemer will then stay outside the battle to keep the wall up. Artifex -- who has no Ego or affects desoid attacks -- will become phantasmal and attack either with spells or with the alchemical rockets and grenades that Victor equips him with. He will also have his STR boosted by a potion in case the critter can attack him physically in his phantasmal state. Jezeray will channel Zontar, who will use his EGO-attack spells against the critter, but will also be boosted by a SPD Aid potion of Victor’s to increase his rate of fire. Victor has 2 rockets that affect desolid he wil use. Once those are gone, he will make himself useful however he can, or will try to make himself a target so the rest of us stay up longer.
 
Having set everything up and chugged our potions in advance, we reenter the house. Once inside, Artifex casts a spell that causes a miasma of despair within the room we are in. This lures the atavism out, which tries to suggest to Artifex that he should just end it all as he is a worthless loser, but since he expects it and isn't despairing the way it thinks he is, it has no effect. Artifex makes his PER roll and takes a shot at the atavism, bit misses. Victor shoots where Artifex did but also misses. Zontar, who is using his Cerulean Spray (1 hex area EGO-attack) hits. Since he is currently boosted to SPD 6, he goes next and hits again. Artifex hits it with a rocket when it tries to mentally attack him again, and Zontar maybe hits; we aren't sure. Victor misses again.
 
Out of rockets, he instead pulls out a different rocket while cackling out loud about how this will easily blow it away. It buys it, and tries to attack him next phase by throwing a TV at him with its poltergeist powers. Zontar, however, had been holding his higher DEX and remembers what they told him about it: "It literally is wherever its attention is at any given moment". He realizes that if it is moving the TV, then that's where its attention is! Just as it throws it, Zontar hurls a more powerful but non-area effect Cerulean Spear at the TV set; it hits and the atavism is dispersed, though its essence is still contained in the Mental Defense bubble.
 
In theory, at least, the atavism could reassemble itself and wake up eventually. Dispersing it more would help, but we don't know how much would be required to ensure it never recovered. Jezeray knows that ghosts can eat any atavism they can choke down their throats, so tries to call in her ghost friends to feast on the leftover essence -- it won't taste good, but it is "nutritious" to ghosts so they would probably eat it if she asked. However, when she starts scanning for her ghost friends, she can only find about half of them; the others are not to be found. Moreover, while many fixed location ghosts are also missing, most of the missing are of the rarer free roaming variety. Jezeray instead lures in a number of small atavism (which also eat other atavisms) to chow down. What little is left we disperse as best we can, and are satisfied the House Haunter won't ever be back.
 
Artifex scans the city for magic that might be affecting the local ghosts and homes in on a signature. When we find it, it is a bowl sitting on the ground behind some shrubs beside a building. Written around the rim is "Able was I ere I saw Elba" and the inside of the bowl has a maze pattern. The center of the bowl is a hole. When we pick the bowl up we discover that the hole attaches to a bottle buried under the ground. This is a ghost trap -- the bowl acts as a lure to draw the ghost in; once over the hole, it is sucked into the bottle, which is a variation on a Solomon's Bottle. This trap in fact has already captured a ghost. Jezeray contacts the mind of a panicked woman inside. She free's the ghost with the intent of then questioning her, but the panicked ghost just flies off screaming in terror. Artifex scans and finds at least a dozen more such traps within the city.
 
This is where we called it a night. Next session will obviously begin with our investigation of the ghost traps and an attempt to track down who is capturing ghosts and why. Ironically, Dean tells us that this problem is what we were supposed to really be dealing with this session - the House Haunter was only supposed to draw us in to discovering the absence of ghosts. Our comedy of errors made that into the entire adventure however. Perhaps even more ironically, his original plot called for the Imp of the Perverse to show up and mess with our attempts to deal with the House Haunter. He threw that idea out about the time Redeemer chugged the Love Potion -- who needs the Imp of the Perverse to mess us up, we do it to ourselves quite nicely...
-------------------
Dean Shomshak

Me (holding a rake, dumping leaves into a bag)
My wife (pulls into driveway and rolls down car window):  Are you raking leaves?
Me:  No.  I'm building a pool. 
 
(My only regret is that I didn't think until afterward that I should have said, "Here's your sign.")

Saw the thread title briefly and read it as 'Godzilla, King of the Mobsters'. He really will make you an offer you cannot refuse.

Me (holding a rake, dumping leaves into a bag)
My wife (pulls into driveway and rolls down car window):  Are you raking leaves?
Me:  No.  I'm building a pool. 
 
(My only regret is that I didn't think until afterward that I should have said, "Here's your sign.")

Me (holding a rake, dumping leaves into a bag)
My wife (pulls into driveway and rolls down car window):  Are you raking leaves?
Me:  No.  I'm building a pool. 
 
(My only regret is that I didn't think until afterward that I should have said, "Here's your sign.")

"Alara - could you open this jar of pickles for me?"

I first saw Stardust when it was playing on the return leg of a business trip. I glanced up a few times and was like, "Oh, geez. That looks awful" and went back to my laptop. 
 
But eventually I plugged in my headphones and started listening.
 
And by the end, I was really enjoying it and wished I hadn't missed the beginning.
 
So I bought the DVD, then the Blu-Ray when we upgraded to that. We've probably watched the movie a dozen times. It's great every time!

I LOVED that movie and it is not the right tone for me.  In a way that the rare rap or country song will hook me - this movie got me.  It is SO well done.
 
It's just so well done that I can't not like it.

"Alara - could you open this jar of pickles for me?"

Watched Stardust last night.  Fun movie, but how to describe it?  A young man (Tristan) crosses a wall into a magical realm to bring a fallen star (which happens to be a woman) back to a woman he thinks he loves, but discovers his actual true love along the way.  Also seeking the fallen star are witches and princes (who are rivals for the thrown after their father dies).  Along the way Tristan encounters sky pirates harvesting lightning, plus the aforementioned witches and princes.  Great performance by Robert DiNiro as Captain Shakespear (arr!), though in my daughter's opinion the best character is the captain's first mate, who does more with his facial expressions and a cleared throat than most actors do with spoken lines. 

Watched Stardust last night.  Fun movie, but how to describe it?  A young man (Tristan) crosses a wall into a magical realm to bring a fallen star (which happens to be a woman) back to a woman he thinks he loves, but discovers his actual true love along the way.  Also seeking the fallen star are witches and princes (who are rivals for the thrown after their father dies).  Along the way Tristan encounters sky pirates harvesting lightning, plus the aforementioned witches and princes.  Great performance by Robert DiNiro as Captain Shakespear (arr!), though in my daughter's opinion the best character is the captain's first mate, who does more with his facial expressions and a cleared throat than most actors do with spoken lines. 

"The Captain's busy -- so should you be!"

Watched Stardust last night.  Fun movie, but how to describe it?  A young man (Tristan) crosses a wall into a magical realm to bring a fallen star (which happens to be a woman) back to a woman he thinks he loves, but discovers his actual true love along the way.  Also seeking the fallen star are witches and princes (who are rivals for the thrown after their father dies).  Along the way Tristan encounters sky pirates harvesting lightning, plus the aforementioned witches and princes.  Great performance by Robert DiNiro as Captain Shakespear (arr!), though in my daughter's opinion the best character is the captain's first mate, who does more with his facial expressions and a cleared throat than most actors do with spoken lines. 

The way I run a Champions campaign is:
I almost always set it in an actual real-world city, because I don't want to have to come up with maps, decide what's where, etc.  (Caveat:  I haven't yet tried to run in San Angelo, which looks to be a pretty completely laid-out city designed for a Champions campaign.)  I also really, really like using Google Maps satellite view, both for setting up the combat maps with fun details, as well as to let the players get a view of what everything looks like.  As to secret IDs, I don't follow reality too strictly, or it would make it practically impossible for the heroes to maintain one.  (Though one can make a case that there are enough unsolved bank robberies and other crimes, many of which involve the robber not wearing a mask of some sort, to make keeping a secret ID feasible.)  Sometimes, you have to roll with the genre conventions. Regarding civilian / super dichotomy, I try to include stuff related to the person's secret ID as well as the super side.  To this end, I've given 5 extra points at character creation if the player provides me 5 family / friends / acquaintance NPCs (important note:  these are not to be used as DNPCs, just people to add to the campaign world).  The players will find ways to use their characters' powers / abilities to help people around them, whether in costume or not.  Over time, PCs often start interacting with other PCs' friends / family / etc. in very fun ways.  As far as I'm concerned, the players have a responsibility to find a way for their characters to participate in the adventure.  They should know their skills / powers and find ways to use them in a given adventure.  As GM, I try to provide plot hooks and usefulness for each of the PCs, but they have to pick up the ball and run with it.  If someone doesn't want to, well, he can sit on the sidelines all he wants.  More recently, I've tried to have an overarching plot, in addition to a (often unrelated) plot for a given night's adventure.  (I call this the Veronica Mars model, though I'm sure it's been used elsewhere prior to that show.)  I'll run the adventure plot itself, usually with something happening (maybe something major, though usually something minor) to move the overarching plot along. To illustrate the above:
My current campaign is set in Boston.  In one adventure, a new supervillain group (the A-Team, a for-hire group of villains whose names all start with the letter "A") was hired to pull a series of crimes to make the Boston supers (Just Cause) look bad.  They did this by leaving clues (released later to the media) as to their next crime, which would seem fairly obvious after the fact.  After three separate encounters (where I showed the players aerial view maps of the locations), we had the big fight.  It was then that I pointed out to the players that in each case, three streets came together to look like an "A".  (The look on their faces was priceless.)  In another case, rooftop features took on great tactical value, both for the villains as well as for the heroes. Secret IDs work both ways.  (Supervillains can have them too.)  My players are willing to accept that they may not be able to use hacked traffic cameras and other security cameras to figure out who's hiding behind Dr. Nefarioius's mask (to borrow assault's example), since that also means that VIPER can't do the same to figure out exactly who the heroes are.  I mean, they still have to make an effort to maintain the secret identity, but as long as they're making a fair effort, it will work out okay for them (after the requisite amount of dramatic tension, of course). In past campaigns, several female PCs (in secret ID) had a spa day with the NPC friend of another PC.  When one PC heroine was dating a PRIMUS agent, several other PCs (in secret ID) went along with her to hear his garage band play.  When you give one player the spotlight, you'd be surprised how the others want to contribute too, whether with background suggestions or directly joining in.  It can be a lot of fun to see how things morph over time. Last Sunday's adventure involved the PCs setting up a trap for the Empress of a Billion Dimensions, with said trap to be sprung on a world she already controls, sending her to a world they had to visit to set up something to keep her from escaping.  Of the 7 heroes, the scientist (Pops), gadgeteer (Maker), and engineer / mage (Malarkey) had skills useful for setting up the MacGuffin to trap her on another world.  The detective (Shadow Boxer) had a counterpart (Shadow Man) on the controlled world who could help draw away some of the Empress' forces.  The mentalist (Circe) used her mental powers to cover the actions of Pops, Maker, and Malarkey.  The necromancer (Nexus) used a summoned spirit to scout out where they needed to go.  And the brick (Honey Badger) used his incredible sense of smell to figure out guard patrol routes.  There were other plot hooks and possibilities as well, some of which they didn't take advantage of.  But the point is, there was enough to involve everybody. The Empress's plan to draw super-forces away from the campaign world and soften it up with Cthulhu-esque menaces before her planned invasion has been this campaign's overarching plot.  The heroes uncovered how she drew many superheroes off-world (using modified blasters and other energy weapons given to groups like VIPER, Genocide, etc.) in one adventure where they needed to "borrow" some equipment from one of the missing hero teams.  They discovered her connection to the Cthulhu menaces while investigating a supervillainess team (the Valkyries).  They discovered how she was keeping the missing heroes from returning to their world in a different adventure.  Each was a step along the way to (hopefully) resolving that campaign-wide plot.

I've tried this, and some players just don't want to face off against their friends. 
 
(Though it did work great when a PC was temporarily replaced by a mimic.  I asked the player to run the mimic and said he could drop subtle clues so long as they weren't too numerous or blatant.  The other players didn't catch any of the clues, and the looks on their faces when he finally turned on them was priceless, even moreso when he pointed out all the clues he had dropped.)

A character in my just-completed Champions campaign has Retrocognition and can talk to spirits of dead people.  The players used both of these a *lot* to get the straight poop on what was going on.  When I noticed they were basically 100% trusting (and utterly relying upon) the visions or what the ghosts said, I occasionally threw a monkey wrench in there.  My favorite was when a DEMON Morbane figured out she could see what happened in the past, so he taunted her before casting a spell (Darkness to Retrocog Clairsentience) that ended her vision before she could see what he actually did.  He also created a spell that made her see what was going on in an alternate dimension, so one of her visions contained incorrect info.  Man, did she hate him! 
 
In a recent adventure involving Shadow Destroyer, one of his underlings was transformed to look like someone else (whom he was holding captive), and then ordered the underling to commit suicide.  The PC heroine was baffled when she couldn't summon that person's spirit (since the person wasn't actually dead yet).
 
(Note:  I didn't do this sort of thing often, just mainly when that Morbane was involved, or that one case with Shadow Destroyer.)

A character in my just-completed Champions campaign has Retrocognition and can talk to spirits of dead people.  The players used both of these a *lot* to get the straight poop on what was going on.  When I noticed they were basically 100% trusting (and utterly relying upon) the visions or what the ghosts said, I occasionally threw a monkey wrench in there.  My favorite was when a DEMON Morbane figured out she could see what happened in the past, so he taunted her before casting a spell (Darkness to Retrocog Clairsentience) that ended her vision before she could see what he actually did.  He also created a spell that made her see what was going on in an alternate dimension, so one of her visions contained incorrect info.  Man, did she hate him! 
 
In a recent adventure involving Shadow Destroyer, one of his underlings was transformed to look like someone else (whom he was holding captive), and then ordered the underling to commit suicide.  The PC heroine was baffled when she couldn't summon that person's spirit (since the person wasn't actually dead yet).
 
(Note:  I didn't do this sort of thing often, just mainly when that Morbane was involved, or that one case with Shadow Destroyer.)

There's also the fact that 2d6 has a different probability distribution than a d12 does. 

Netflix's Lost in Space - I really enjoyed this series, except for one thing: Dr. Smith. I hated that character. And not in a fun "love to hate" kind of way. The character was just so awful that she nearly ruined the show for me. It is a testament to how good the rest of the cast is and how good the writing is that I enjoyed the show despite her.
 
I've just started watching Black Lightning--out of curiosity more than anything else--and I can only conclude that genetically inherited superpowers in this universe are more like a disease (which can afflict someone at any point in their lives) rather than an expression of biological maturation (which would manifest powers around puberty).

Finally started watching The Good Place, I'm about halfway through season 1.  Enjoying it a lot.  Was just going to watch an episode or two, but I got sucked right in. 

If you’re in eastern Michigan, how did you happen to choose Boston as your campaign location?  My old campaign was set there but we were all from there so it made things easy....kind of.
  During a combat in the downtown streets a player needed hydrogen peroxide to make an explosive and when I as the GM said “Well where are you gonna get that?” She smiled and told me exactly where the pharmacy was....she blew a perfectly good 10 ft. Death Drone all to hell.

The way I run a Champions campaign is:
I almost always set it in an actual real-world city, because I don't want to have to come up with maps, decide what's where, etc.  (Caveat:  I haven't yet tried to run in San Angelo, which looks to be a pretty completely laid-out city designed for a Champions campaign.)  I also really, really like using Google Maps satellite view, both for setting up the combat maps with fun details, as well as to let the players get a view of what everything looks like.  As to secret IDs, I don't follow reality too strictly, or it would make it practically impossible for the heroes to maintain one.  (Though one can make a case that there are enough unsolved bank robberies and other crimes, many of which involve the robber not wearing a mask of some sort, to make keeping a secret ID feasible.)  Sometimes, you have to roll with the genre conventions. Regarding civilian / super dichotomy, I try to include stuff related to the person's secret ID as well as the super side.  To this end, I've given 5 extra points at character creation if the player provides me 5 family / friends / acquaintance NPCs (important note:  these are not to be used as DNPCs, just people to add to the campaign world).  The players will find ways to use their characters' powers / abilities to help people around them, whether in costume or not.  Over time, PCs often start interacting with other PCs' friends / family / etc. in very fun ways.  As far as I'm concerned, the players have a responsibility to find a way for their characters to participate in the adventure.  They should know their skills / powers and find ways to use them in a given adventure.  As GM, I try to provide plot hooks and usefulness for each of the PCs, but they have to pick up the ball and run with it.  If someone doesn't want to, well, he can sit on the sidelines all he wants.  More recently, I've tried to have an overarching plot, in addition to a (often unrelated) plot for a given night's adventure.  (I call this the Veronica Mars model, though I'm sure it's been used elsewhere prior to that show.)  I'll run the adventure plot itself, usually with something happening (maybe something major, though usually something minor) to move the overarching plot along. To illustrate the above:
My current campaign is set in Boston.  In one adventure, a new supervillain group (the A-Team, a for-hire group of villains whose names all start with the letter "A") was hired to pull a series of crimes to make the Boston supers (Just Cause) look bad.  They did this by leaving clues (released later to the media) as to their next crime, which would seem fairly obvious after the fact.  After three separate encounters (where I showed the players aerial view maps of the locations), we had the big fight.  It was then that I pointed out to the players that in each case, three streets came together to look like an "A".  (The look on their faces was priceless.)  In another case, rooftop features took on great tactical value, both for the villains as well as for the heroes. Secret IDs work both ways.  (Supervillains can have them too.)  My players are willing to accept that they may not be able to use hacked traffic cameras and other security cameras to figure out who's hiding behind Dr. Nefarioius's mask (to borrow assault's example), since that also means that VIPER can't do the same to figure out exactly who the heroes are.  I mean, they still have to make an effort to maintain the secret identity, but as long as they're making a fair effort, it will work out okay for them (after the requisite amount of dramatic tension, of course). In past campaigns, several female PCs (in secret ID) had a spa day with the NPC friend of another PC.  When one PC heroine was dating a PRIMUS agent, several other PCs (in secret ID) went along with her to hear his garage band play.  When you give one player the spotlight, you'd be surprised how the others want to contribute too, whether with background suggestions or directly joining in.  It can be a lot of fun to see how things morph over time. Last Sunday's adventure involved the PCs setting up a trap for the Empress of a Billion Dimensions, with said trap to be sprung on a world she already controls, sending her to a world they had to visit to set up something to keep her from escaping.  Of the 7 heroes, the scientist (Pops), gadgeteer (Maker), and engineer / mage (Malarkey) had skills useful for setting up the MacGuffin to trap her on another world.  The detective (Shadow Boxer) had a counterpart (Shadow Man) on the controlled world who could help draw away some of the Empress' forces.  The mentalist (Circe) used her mental powers to cover the actions of Pops, Maker, and Malarkey.  The necromancer (Nexus) used a summoned spirit to scout out where they needed to go.  And the brick (Honey Badger) used his incredible sense of smell to figure out guard patrol routes.  There were other plot hooks and possibilities as well, some of which they didn't take advantage of.  But the point is, there was enough to involve everybody. The Empress's plan to draw super-forces away from the campaign world and soften it up with Cthulhu-esque menaces before her planned invasion has been this campaign's overarching plot.  The heroes uncovered how she drew many superheroes off-world (using modified blasters and other energy weapons given to groups like VIPER, Genocide, etc.) in one adventure where they needed to "borrow" some equipment from one of the missing hero teams.  They discovered her connection to the Cthulhu menaces while investigating a supervillainess team (the Valkyries).  They discovered how she was keeping the missing heroes from returning to their world in a different adventure.  Each was a step along the way to (hopefully) resolving that campaign-wide plot.